Lecture Notes
Below
are the notes for all of the lectures in this course. They provide the
essential information covered during each lecture, including both overhead
projector and PowerPoint presentations. Of course, some items have been
omitted, namely, pictures, graphs, anecdotes, cartoons, jokes, extensive
quotations, and incidental information about major events and figures in
the history of psychology. In other words, the notes include just the kind
of material that should be included in your own lecture notes. On
the other hand, sometimes information provided here will not have been
discussed in class. Because I try to be responsive to your questions during
the course of the lecture, I will occasionally delete less critical material
in order to cover everything essential by the end of the lecture hour.
Such omitted topics are adequately covered in the textbook anyway.
Please note the following abbreviations:
fl. = floruit (flourished), c. = circa (approximately), B.C.E. = Before
the Common Era (i.e., “B.C.”)
Moreover, the chronology of contributions are often given in the following
form “(date/age)” For example for the William James lecture one can read
“Principles of Psychology (1890/48)” which means that the book was
published in 1890 when James was 48 years old. Alternatively, the
information might be given as "in 1890 (48)."
Index
Part I: Roots in Philosophy\\
Introduction | The Ancients | Medieval & Renaissance | Descartes | British Empiricists | Continental Rationalists | Pseudo Sciences
Part II: Becoming a Science
French Clinicians | British Evolutionists
| Galton | German Physiologists | Wundt
| James
Part III: Emergence of Schools
Associationism | Structuralism
| Functionalism | Behaviorism I | Behaviorism
II | Gestalt Psychology | Psychoanalysis
I | Psychoanalysis II
Part IV: Modern Viewpoints
Metasciences | Scientific Genius
| Humanistic Psychology | Cognitive Science
| Contemporary Psychology | Conclusion
Why study the history of psychology?
Intrinsic interest of history!Back to top
The lessons and wisdom of history!
Understanding the key issues of the discipline!
Understanding the discipline as a science!
The Pre-Socratics
Thales (640-550 B.C.E.)Socratic Contemporariesnaturalism (phusis as water)Pythagoras (fl. ca. 531 B.C.E.)
prediction (solar eclipse 585 B.C.E.)soul vs. body distinctionHeraclitus (540-480 B.C.E.)
number and mathematicsincessant flux; conflict
phusis = fire
Protagoras (480-410 B.C.E.)The Athenian Triadrelativism and individualismDemocritus (ca. 460-370 B.C.E.)
persuasion; Sophismdeterminism, materialism, atomism
perception: eidola
ethics: hedonism
Socrates (469-399 B.C.E.)The Heritage of the Athenian Golden AgeBasic IdeasPlato (427-347 B.C.E.):Subject matterInfluence: his pupil, Platoethics > natural philosophyMethodology
dictum: know thyselfdialectic method
Socratic ironyBiographical backgroundAristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)aristocratic familyIdeas
political involvement
pupil of Socrates (Phaedo)
founded Academy (Akademia) 387 B.C.E. (closed in 529 by Justinian)epistemologyInfluence: Stoicism, Neoplatonism, Christianity, Continental Idealismideas, universal formsethics
reason > experience
nativism (anamnesis)reason > pleasure; soul > body
philosopher-kingBiographical Contextphysician fatherIdeas: logic, biology, and psychology
pupil of Plato
founded Lyceum: Peripatetic philosophy
after 323 B.C.E. left AthensPeri Psyches (De Anima): 3 soulsInfluence: Islamic & Christian thoughtvegetative (nutrition & reproduction)On Memory and Reminiscence:
animal (sensitivity & locomotion)
human (reason)tabula nudaRhetoric: principles of persuasion
association: similarity, contiguity, contrast
Ethics: the Golden Mean
rationalism vs. empiricismBack to top
being vs. becoming
individual vs. society
qualitative vs. quantitative analysis
descriptive vs. prescriptive theory
The Aftermath of the Classical Period
Hellenistic TraditionsMedieval ThoughtSkepticism: Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360-270 B.C.E.)Philosophies of Life Under the Roman Empire
Epicurianism: Epicurus (341-270 B.C.E.); Lucretius (94-55 B.C.E.)Stoicism: Zeno of Citium (333-262 B.C.E.); Epictetus (c. 55-c. 135); Marcus Aurelius (120-180)The End of Classical Thought: Boethius (c. 480-524)
Neo-Platonism: Plotinus (204-270)
Christianity: Augustine (354-430)
The Islamic Interim: Avicenna (980-1037); Maimonides (1135-1204)The Renaissance
The Debates of the ScholasticsSense vs. Reason: John Scotus Erigena (c. 810-877)The Thomastic Synthesis: Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Realism vs. Nominalism: Pierre Abélard (1079-1142)
The Scholastic DissentersRoger Bacon (1214-1294)
Johannes Duns Scotus (1266/74-1308)
William Ockham (c. 1300-1349)
HumanismBack to top
Reformation
Philosophical Innovation
Scientific Revolution
Life and work
Discours de la méthode (1637/ 41)Influence on His Thought
Meditationes de prima philosophia (1641/ 45)
Principia philosophiae (1644 /48)
Les passiones de l'âme (1649/53)
Le Monde (1650/posthumously)
1. Opposition to authority and dogma: iconoclasticThe Cartesian Method
2. Mathematics and metaphysics: rationalistic system
3. Scientific and philosophical revolutionaries
1. Doubt everything; be skeptical; accept nothing except that which is clear and certain – the self-evidently trueCartesian Psychology
2. Analyze the problem into its parts and treat each separately
3. Arrange thoughts from the simple to the complex
4. Provide full and complete enumeration of all aspects of the phenomenon; omit nothing, without exception
Some Cartesian SuccessorsThe Mind-Body DualismThe Mind - pure spirit, free, rationalEpistemology
The Body -material (hydraulic) machineThe Dilemma: how interaction?
hence, “physics of physiology”
reflexes (undulatio reflexa)Mind-Body Interactionism
The pineal gland (conarium)Derived ideas (through experience)
Innate ideas (through consciousness); hence nativist
Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655)Back to top
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715)
Pierre Bayle (1647-1706)
Julien de La Mettrie (1709-1751)
Pre-Cartesian English Thinkers
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)Post-Cartesian British ThinkersLife and CareerThomas Hobbes (1588-1679)student of law and politics at CambridgeChief Works
offices under Elizabeth I and James I
accused of bribery in 1621Essays (1597/36)Ideas
The Advancement of Learning (1605/44)
Novum Organum (1620/59)abandoned a priori speculationInfluence
proposed inductive method
warning regarding various “idols”Lifeson of clergyman, sickly as youthIdeas: Leviathan (1651/63)
Oxford education (Aristotle & Scholastics)
European travels with English nobles
loyalist during English Civil WarMaterialistic monism:Influence1. Mind is brain substance (reductionism)Collectivistic and hedonistic ethics:
2. Activity in brain creates images and ideas (epiphenomenalism)
3. Whole universe merely particles of matter in motion (atomism)1. Humans driven by pleasure and pain
2. Necessity for social compact
3. Hierarchical social system with authoritarian government at top
John Locke (1632-1704)Back to topLife and CareerGeorge Berkeley (1685-1753)father an attorneyChief Works
Oxford education
contacts with scientists (Boyle, etc.)
exile to Holland 1683-89Letters Concerning Toleration (1689/57)Epistemology
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690/58)The Origin of IdeasInfluenceno innate ideas: “white paper”The Types of Ideas
rather, empirical sourceSensation
ReflectionSimplePrimary qualitiesComplex
Secondary qualitiesAssociationists
Berkeley & HumeLifeDavid Hume (1711-1776)Irish bornWorks and Ideas
educated Trinity College, Dublin
world travels: Italy, Rhode Island
became Bishop of CloyneAn Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision (1709/24)Influence1. eye does not innately perceive distanceA Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710/25):
2. learns distance signs from tactual, kinesthetic, and muscular experience
3. signs include convergence, interposition, relative size, etc.
idealistic monism1. to be is to be perceived (esse est percipi)
2. universals are illusions
3. problem of solipsism
4. solution: benevolent all-powerful God!Hume
German idealistsLifea younger son born in EdinburghIdeas: Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748/37): skepticism
where studied law (but did not graduate)
various public offices
Treatise Upon Human Nature (1739-40/28-29)1. knowledge merely impressions and ideasInfluence
2. ideas bound by association (contiguity, similarity, cause/effect)
3. cannot know universals: metaphysics useless
4. no absolute or certain knowledge
5. even mind and self mere impressionThomas Reid (1710-1796)
Leibniz and Kant
Pre-Kantians
Spinoza (1632-1677)Kant (1724-1804)LifeLeibniz (1643-1716)born Amsterdam of Jewish-Portuguese parentsIdeas
mother died when 6
precocious
excommunicated
lens grinder by trade
greatest works published posthumously, specially the Ethics (1677/45)General approachInfluencePantheism fromSpecific applicationRenaissance Neo-Platonism andGeometric method
Cartesian philosophyMind-body problem resolved throughdouble-aspect monismEpistemology: identity hypothesis
strict psychic determinism
Ethics: reason as restraint on passionLeibniz
German Idealists
German physiologists
FreudLifefather professor moral philosophy at Leipzig but died age 6Ideas
extremely precocious
studied law
doctorate at age 21
entered diplomatic service
knew leading figures of day
great mathematician:calculus
calculating machine
binary arithmeticNew Essays on Human Understanding: attack on Locke’s empiricismInfluence: Christian Wolff (1679-1754), and hence to Kantmind-body problem resolved through
psychological parallelismpetites perceptions: thresholds of awareness
monadology
pre-established harmony
Life and CareerPost-KantiansEarly developmentWorksborn in Königsberg; father tradesmanInfluences
mother pious & intelligent
student of philosophy and mathematics
theory of heavens; nebular hypothesis (multiple)
private tutor, then privat docent, then professor 1770-97 (46-75)
poor; never married; fixed routine
brilliant and popular lecturerLeibnizian-Wolffian philosophy
British Empiricists; Hume’s skepticismCritique of Pure Reason (1781/57)Ideas
Critique of Practical Reason (1788/64)
Critique of Judgment (1790/66)Theory of knowledge: pure reasonInfluenceIntegration of three epistemologiesCurious consequence: no psychologyEmpiricism (sensation as content)
Rationalism (categories of thought)
Skepticism (phenomena vs. noumena)Theory of ethics: practical reason; categorical imperativemathematics inapplicablebut anthropology?
experimentation impossibleviewed himself as a Copernicus
difficult read
yet profound impact - the greatest since Descartes
Back to top
Back to course page
Mesmerism to Hypnotism
Franz Mesmer (1733-1815)Phrenology to Localization of Brain FunctionThe Aftermath
- earned MD in 1766 (32) for dissertation “On the Influence of Planets” (animal gravitation)
- married wealthy aristocrat and lived life of ease
- glass harmonica; friendly with Mozart family
- met Father Maximilian Hell in 1770s who studied magnets
- first “cure”: idea of animal magnetism in 1773 (40)
- expert witness against Johann Gassner in 1775 (42)
- treatment of 16-year old Maria-Theresia Paradis in 1777 (44)
- condemned as a charlatan, and fled to Paris in 1778 (45)
- developed a popular group therapy (baquet, chambre de crises, etc.)
- royal commission to investigate claims in 1784 (41): included Benjamin Franklin, Antoine Lavoisier, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, and Jean Bailly
- fled to Switzerland, where he died in obscurity
Marquis de Puységur (1751-1825):artificial somnambulismJosé Custodio di Faria (1756-1819): lucid sleep
post-hypnotic suggestion and amnesia
John Elliotson (1791-1868): Zoist (1843-1856)
James Esdaile (1808-1859): 1300 operations in India
James Braid (1795-1860)neuro-hypnology, hence hypnotism
supported Puységur’s idea of patient susceptibility
Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828)CommonalitiesScientific ContributionsThe AftermathIntroduced new dissection techniquesPseudo-Scientific Mistake
Important discoveries about the central nervous systemGray versus white matter
Hemispheres connected by commissures
Fibers from spinal cord cross over in lower brain
Higher mental functions related to size of cortexInfluenced byPhysiognomy (Johann Kaspar Lavater, 1741-1801)Developed: Organology
Faculty Psychology (Dugald Stewart, 1753-1828)Specific brain localization of each faculty
Faculty development associated with cortical tissue
Magnitude of tissue determines shape of skull (hence craniometry)Transformation into phrenology: Johann Caspar Spurzheim (1776-1832)But major criticisms: Pierre Flourens (1794-1867)
ablation studiesYet revival of localization concept
actions propres vs. action communePaul Broca (1825-1880): motor aphasia
Carl Wernicke (1848-1905): sensory aphasia
Grain of truth, butBack to topoverextended beyond dataCaused professional rejection that
failed to subject to rigorous test
succumbed to excessive popularization“threw the baby out with the bath water” and thus
retarded scientific understanding
The Beginnings
Philippe Pinel (1745-1826)Jean Martin Charcot (1825-1893): The “Napoleon of the Neuroses”BackgroundThe Nancy SchoolInstitutions: Bedlam (London); Bicêtre & Salpêtrière (Paris)Reforms
Theory: Somatic view of mental illness
Treatment: Physical, harsh, even brutalfirst at Bicêtre (1793/48) andBooks
then at Salpêtrière (1795/50)Nosographie philosophique (“Philosophical Classification of Diseases,” 1798/53)
Traité médico-philosophique sur l’aliénation mentale ou la mania (“Treatise on Insanity,” 1801/56)August Liébeault (1823-1904) French country doctorhypnotic induction technique and treatmentHippolyte Bernheim (1823-1919) French medical professor
unsuccessful book
successful treatment of Bernheim’s patientfounding of clinic
hypnosis as suggestibility
controversy with Charcot
Early career as neurologistThe EndingsStudied at Salpêtrière; obtained staff position (1862/37)Later career as a psychiatrist
Described poliomyelitis, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy
Wrote Clinical Lectures on Certain Diseases of the Nervous System (1873/48)
Method: non-theoretical; inductive repetition; types vs. formes frustes
e.g., epilepsyGrand mal epilepsyExcellent clinical lecturer (Binet, James, Janet & Freud)aura phasePetit mal epilepsy
tonic phase
clonic phaseBegan to study hysteria in 1880s:Decline in influenceDiscovery: “virile hysteria”Included hypnotizability among hysterical symptoms
Etiology: dissociation of memories
NosographyGrande hystérieepileptoid stage
large movement stage
hallucinatory stage
delirious stageGrand hypnotismePresents in French Academy of Sciences (1882/57)catalepsy stage
lethargy stage
somnambulism stage
Controversy with Nancy School
Pierre Janet (1859-1947)Back to topStudied under CharcotGustave Le Bon (1841-1931)
Succeeds him as head of the Psychological Laboratory
Wrote The Mental State of Hystericals (1892/33)“fixed idea” causes mental dissociationInfluenced Jung, Breuer, Freud, and Prince
influence of the unconscious (priority dispute with Freud)Old and wealthy family; medical school; but dilettante
Two books on group psychology and the group mind:The Psychology of Peoples (1894/53): unconscious and hypnotic influencesInfluence
The Crowd (1895/54): suggestibility and contagion
Antecedents
AncientCharles Darwin (1809-1882)Modern
- Heraclitus (540-480 B.C.E.)
- Democritus (460-370 B.C.E.)
- Lucretius (44-55 B.C.E.)
- Comte de Buffon (1707-1788): Histoire naturelle ("Natural History," 1749ff/42ff) - evolution by degeneration
- Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802): Zoonomia (1794/63) - direct influence of the environment
- Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829): Philosophie zoologique ("Zoological Philosophy," 1809/65) - inheritance of acquired characteristics
- Patrick Matthew (1790-1864): On Naval Timber and Arboriculture (1831/41)
- Charles Lyell (1797-1875): Principles of Geology (1830-33/33-36) - Uniformitarianism
- Robert Chambers (1802-1871): The Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844/42)
LifeHerbert Spencer (1820-1903)Ideas
- born February 12, 1809, 5th of 6 children, in distinguished family
- father a physician, the son of Erasmus Darwin
- mother a daughter of Josiah Wedgwood I
- mother died when 8, raised by older sister
- poor student, but active outdoor activities
- father’s frustration about lack of direction
- contemplated medical career, but left Edinburgh at age 18
- then prepared for Holy Orders in Church of England; to Cambridge
- met Johns Stevens Henslow, professor of botany
- BA 1831 at age 22
- opportunity to serve as naturalist on the Beagle under Captain Robert Fitzroy; Dec. 27, 1831-Oct. 2, 1836
- age 30 married his first cousin, Emma
- sons: Sirs George, Francis, and Horace
- died Apr. 26, 1882; buried in Westminster Abbey
The Voyage of the Beagle (1840-43/31-34):the tremendous diversity of lifeOn the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859/50)
incessant environmental changebackgroundThe Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871/62)basic concepts
- read Thomas Malthus on Sept. 28, 1838
- sketch by 1842; 200 page manuscript by 1844
- June 18, 1858, paper from Alfred Russell Wallace
- July 1, 1858, joint presentation at Linnaean Society
- November 24, 1859, Origin published
- all 1250 copies sold on first day!
1. Spontaneous variation in individual characteristics
2. Overproduction -> “struggle for existence”
3. Natural selection of better adapted variants
4. Speciation; emergence of new species
5. Continuity without teleologyhuman evolution; sexual selectionThe Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872/63)evolutionary basis of behavior; continuityBiographical Sketch of an Infant (1877/66)early child developmental psychology
LifeConsequencesIdeas
- son of English schoolmaster
- nonconformist tradition
- only child; loner in childhood
- refused university education; became civil engineer
- largely self-educated
- reading of Lyell’s Principles of Geology at 20 -> life crisis
- friends with leading intellectuals of day
- published articles in The Zoist
Principles of Biology (1864/44)“survival of the fittest”Principles of Psychology (1855/35)evolutionary associationism (empiricist nativism)
development as differentiation and integration
Individual Differences: Differential PsychologyBack to top
Ethology: Comparative Psychology
Functionalism: Functional Psychology
Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary Epistemology and the BVSR Model of Creativity
Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911)
LifeBack to topEarly Career as a Scientist
- born Feb 16, 9th and youngest, to distinguished family
- father prosperous banker
- mother the daughter of Erasmus Darwin
- a child prodigy
- but unfavorable educational experiences
- 1st at series of boarding schools (age 8)
- 2nd to pursue medical training at Birmingham General Hospital (age 16)
- 3rd pursuing honors BA in mathematics at Cambridge
- emotional breakdown
- took non-honors degree in 1843 (age 21)
- returned to medical studies
- but his father died the following year, leaving him with sizeable fortune
- extensive travels in Egypt, Sudan, and Middle East 1845-46
- returned to life of gentleman-farmer
Later Career as a Psychologist
- engaged in miscellaneous activities: ballooning, electricity
- 1st scientific paper in 1849 (27) on “telotype” printing telegraph
- in 1850 (28) became an explorer and geographer
- to southwest Africa until 1852 (30)
- in 1853 (31): got married, wrote Tropical South Africa, and awarded Gold Medal of Royal Geographical Society
- engaged in diverse scientific activities; diverse inventions
- wrote The Art of Travel (1855/33)
- elected FRS in 1856 (35)
- pioneered weather prediction (weather maps, isobars, cyclones, anti-cyclones, fronts)
Hereditary Genius (1869/47):Final YearsThesis: natural ability, eminence, and inheritanceEnglish Men of Science: Their Nature and Nurture (1874/52):
Evidence:
1. normal distribution and
2. family pedigrees
Implication: eugenicsImpetus: Alphonse de Candolles’s study of environmental factorsInquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development (1883/61):
Innovation: self-questionnaire method
Discoveries: birth order, education, etc.Anthology: about 40 previously published articlesNatural Inheritance (1889/67):
Some topics:
1. Associations: word association test
2. Mental imagery
3. Twin studies
4. Anthropometry ->Galton’s “Anthropometric Laboratory” at the International Health Exhibition
Measures:Keenness of Sight and of HearingN = 9,337!
Colour Sense
Judgement of Eye
Breathing Power
Reaction Times
Strength of Pull and of Squeeze
Force of Blow
Span of Arms
Height, both standing and sitting
WeightScatter plots
Regression lineInfluencepioneering research on finger print identification (1890s/70s) arithmetic of smells (1894/72) Biometrica founded by Karl Pearson (1901) Eugenics Laboratory at University College, London (1904) helped found the Eugenics Education Society, which published Eugenics Review wrote Memories of My Life (1908/86) Individual Differences
Nature-Nurture Issue
PsychometricsMeasurement
Statistics
Ernst Heinrich Weber (1795-1891)
LifeJohannes Peter Müller (1801-1858)Contributionsson of theology professor; eldest of 3 brothers medical degree University of Leipzig age 20 professor of anatomy at Leipzig age 23-76 younger brother Wilhelm Eduard a famous physicist Quantitative research on sensory modalities from 1834
Der Tastsinn und das Gemeingefühl (“The Sense of Touch and the General Sense”; 1846/51):
1. Two-point threshold
2. Just noticeable difference (jnd)
3. Weber fraction: delta S / S = k
k = .020 for lifting weights
k = .015 for brightness of light
k = .100 for loudness of tone
but only valid in middle ranges
LifeGustav Theodor Fechner (1801-1887)Contributionsson of shoemaker originally planned to become a priest medical degree age 20 University of Bonn extremely neurotic, several nervous breakdowns; may have died a suicide Doctrine of specific nerve energies (1826/26)
Handbook of Physiology (1833/32)
Students and disciples1. Theodor Schwann (1810-1882): pepsin, cell theory, “metabolism”
2. Karl Ludwig (1816-1895): kymograph*
3. Émile DuBois-Reymond (1819-1892): electro-chemical nature of nervous impulse*
4. Ernst Brücke (1819-1893): Freud’s teacher*
5. Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902): cellular theory of pathology
6. Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1888): see below*
*signed in blood 1842 anti-vitalist manifesto
LifeHermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)Contributions
- son of (free-thinking) village pastor
- precocious; learning Latin at 5, began medical studies at 16
- father died age 5
- medical degree at Leipzig in 1822
- earned living translating French science texts
- began research on electrochemistry: paper on "Determination of the Mass of the Galvanic Chain" (Massbestimmungen über die galvanische Kette, 1831/30)
- professorship of physics at Leipzig in 1834 (33)
- but long series of illnesses; partial blindness in 1840; resigned, small pension from 1844
- authorship of humorous articles under nom de plume of Dr. Mises
- mystical philosophy: panpsychic, anti-materialist
1. Booklet of Life after Death (1836/35)
2. Nanna, or Concerning the Mental Life of Plants (1848/47)
3. Zend-Avesta, or Concerning Matters of Heaven and the Hereafter (1851/50)- 1850 (Oct. 22) sudden insight ->
Elemente der Psychophysik (“Elements of Psychophysics”; 1860/59)
1. Coined term: psychophysics
2. Fechner’s law: S = k log R (R = Reiz, or “stimulus” in German)
3. Methodology: method of limits, etc.
Vorschule der Aesthetik (“Introduction to Aesthetics”; 1876/75)
1. Experimental aesthetics
2. First public opinion poll
LifeBack to topContributions
- mother descendent of William Penn
- father philology instructor at a military college
- delicate health; tutored at home
- read old physics texts; conducted optical experiments
- at 17 entered institute to become army surgeon
- rapid movement up academic ladder:
Berlin Academy of Arts (age 27)
Königsberg (age 28)
Bonn (age 34)
Heidelberg (age 36)
Berlin (age 50)- at Berlin: research in physics, thermodynamics, meteorology, electromagnetism
- enobled in 1882 (age 61): hence the "von"
- visited US in 1893; met William James; died year later
“The Conservation of Force” (1847/26) Measured the speed of nervous conduction (1850/29) Ophthalmoscope (1851/30) Handbook of Physiological Optics (1856-76/35-46): e.g., Young-Helmholtz theory The Theory of the Sensation of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music (1863/42): resonance place theory Doctrine of unconscious inference
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
LifeBack to topCareer
- born 4th and last child
- only sibling to survive infancy was brother 8 years older, who left home when Wundt was 2
- father a poor Lutheran village pastor; descended from historians, theologians, economists, & geographers
- mother’s side had natural scientists and physicians
- extremely lonely, few friends; poor health
- taught by tutor, his father’s assistant
- did poorly in the Gymnasium; daydreamer, socially maladjusted
- didn’t do well until father died
- began attending University of Tübingen where uncle was professor
- chose medicine, going to Heidelberg for internship
- then to University of Berlin to study under Müller & DuBois-Reymond
- lab work under Robert Bunsen
- first scientific publication age 21
- received MD from Heidelberg at age 24 with highest honors (summa cum laude)
1857/25 started teaching on his own at HeidelbergMajor Books
1858/26 became assistant in Helmholtz’s lab and began to publish heavily
1864/32 promoted to associate professor
1867/35 offered course on “Physiological Psychology”
1871/39 expected to succeed Helmholtz, but didn’t
1874/42 became professor of philosophy at Zürich
1875/43 call from University of Leipzig; a major chair of philosophy; acquired demonstration space
1879/47 Psychologische Institut
1881/49 founded Philosophische Studien ("Philosophical Studies")
1892/60 lab moved into 11-room suite
1897/65 given spacious new lab in especially designed new building
1909/77 official orator for Leipzig’s 500-year jubilee
1917/85 retired
1920/88 died – shortly after finishing autobiography1) Beiträge zur Theorie der Sinneswahrnehmung (“Contributions to the Theory of Sensory Perception”), 1858-62 (26-30)Ideasargued for an experimental psychology as a new science;2) Vorlesungen über die Menschen- und Tierseele (“Lectures on the Minds of Men and Animals”), 1863 (31)
drew heavily on Weber, Müller, and Helmholtzinfluenced by Darwin;3) Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie (“Principles of Physiological Psychology”), 1873, 1874 (41, 42)
argues for comparative psychology (yet only 26 of 454 pages devoted to animals)his masterpiece; six editions over the next 37 years, last in 19114) Grundriss der Psychologie (“Outline of Psychology”), 1896 (64)
5) Völkerpsychologie: Eine Untersuchung der Entwicklungsgesetz von Sprache, Mythus, und Sitte (“Cultural Psychology: An Investigation of the Developmental Laws of Language, Myth, and Morality”), 1900-20 (68-88)
higher mental functions through cultural materialsDefinition of the FieldInfluenceSubject matter: science of consciousnessElements of ExperienceDistinction between immediate and mediated experienceMethodology of the Field
Nature of consciousnessnot stable, a process in flux
not homogeneous – sensing, feeling, thinking, etc.
cannot be reduced to physiological events
mental events lawfulIntrospectionGoals of the Field
Experimentation (e.g., reaction time)
Historical analysis: for higher mental processesAnalyze conscious processes into their basic elements
Discover how these elements are connected
Determine their laws of associationClassified as sensations and feelingsConsciousness and Attention
Feelings three dimensional:Pleasant-unpleasant
Tension-release
Excitation-calmFocus versus field of consciousnessCreative Synthesis: whole greater than sum of parts
Apperception versus apprehension
former act of will – hence voluntarismMind-Body Problem:
Psychophysical parallelism
Principle of psychic causalityStudents in Wundt’s Laboratory:G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924)*
Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926)
James McKeen Cattell (1860-1944)*
Oswald Külpe (1862-1915)
Hugo Münsterberg (1863-1916)*
Charles E. Spearman (1863-1945)
Edward Wheeler Scripture (1864-1943)
George Stratton (1865-1957)
E. B. Titchener (1867-1927)*
Vladimir Bekhterov (1867-1927)*
Lightner Witmer (1867-1956)*To be discussed in second half of course
William James (1842-1910):
LifeBack to topCareer
- first born son in wealthy Boston family
- younger brother Henry born 15 months later; followed by three younger siblings
- intellectually and culturally rich family environment
- extensive travels and education abroad
- but all children had unhappy adulthoods; Alice extensive illness
- William himself suffered from digestive disorders, insomnia, eye problems, weak back, hypochondriasis, and bouts of depression in later life
- first planned to become an artist (in 1860/18); studied painting for 6 months in studio of William Morris Hunt
- then entered Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard to study chemistry (in 1861/19); but disliked lab work; often fatigued
- then learned that family money running out; enrolled in Harvard medical school (in 1864/22)
- interrupted medical studies (in 1865/23) to assist Louis Agassiz in expedition to Brazil; but left
- traveled to Europe again (in 1867/25)
- obtained Harvard MD in 1869 (27)
Crisis; attack of intense insecurity; suicidal; two events led to recovery:Chief Works:1872(30) assistant professor of physiology (at $600/year); excellent instructor; teaching ratings
- read French Kantian philosopher Charles Renouvier in 1870 (28) on free will
- Harvard’s president Charles Eliot asked him to teach a new physiology course
1875-76 (33-34): taught “The Relations Between Physiology and Psychology,” first psychology course in US
1875 (33): founded first psychology lab in US
1876 (34): publishing psychology articles in Mind
1878 (36): stopped teaching anatomy and physiology
1880 (38): signed contract to write textbook; made assistant professor of philosophy
1885 (43): full professor of philosophy
1889 (47): full professor of psychology in 1897 (55): full professor of philosophy to 1907
1910 (68): diedPrinciples of Psychology (1890/48)Ideas
Principles: Psychology, Briefer Course (1892/50)
Talks to Teachers on Psychology (1899/57)
Varieties of Religious Experience (1902/60)Subject Matter of Psychology:Influence“Psychology is the Science of Mental Life, both of its phenomena and their conditions”Methods of PsychologyIntrospectionSpecific Topics
Experimentation
Comparative methodConsciousnessStream of consciousnessMind-Body Problem
Five major characteristics:
1. It is personal; my thought
2. It’s constantly changing
3. It’s sensibly continuous; fundamentally a single chain
4. It deals with objects independent of itself – reality
5. It’s selective
Emotion: James-Lange Theory
Self: Self-esteem
HabitExtensively quoted by all major schools
Precursor of the functionalist school
APA President in 1894
Many notable students, includingJames R. Angell
Mary W. Calkins
Edward L. Thorndike
Antecedents
Philosophical RootsAmerican Advocate: Edward Lee Thorndike (1874-1949):David Hartley (1705-1757): Observations on Man (1747/42)Scientific PioneersAlexander Bain (1818-1903):application of atomistic Newtonian philosophy to physiological psychology "vibratiuncles" (vibrations of "white medullary substance of the brain") these become associated through law of contiguity The Senses and the Intellect (1855/37)The Mills – father and sonThe Emotions and the Will (1859/41)laws of association (contiguity and similarity) new ideas by recombination Founded first psychology journal, Mind (1876/58)
James Mill (1773-1836):John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind (1829/56): single principle of association: contiguity additive summation: “mental mechanics” phenomenally precocious (IQ over 200) a free-thinker (“On the Subjection of Women,” 1869/66) active conception of mind: “mental chemistry” Russia: Vladimir M. Bekhterev (1857-1927):Germany: Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)in 1886 (29) established first laboratory of experimental psychology in Russia studied the motor conditioned response (“associated reflex”) wrote Objective Psychology in 1907 (50), which influenced American behaviorists (Watson) and made “reflexology” the dominant theme in Russian psychology CareerThe Memory ExperimentsPhD in Philosophy in 1873 (23) crystallizing experience: Fechner’s Elements of Psychophysics in 1876 (26) Über das Gedächtnis (“On Memory,” 1885/35) Berlin appointment in 1880, but later to Breslau co-founded Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgan ("Journal for the Psychology and Physiology of the Sensory Organs," 1890/40) invented a completion test (first published intelligence test for children) wrote Die Grundzüge der Psychologie (“The Principles of Psychology”) invention of the nonsense syllable (sinnlose Silben) use of a “savings score” rigid experimental control and numerous replications to obtain statistical averages Ebbinghaus’s “normal curve of forgetting” experimental variations: number of syllables, overlearning, meaningful versus meaningless material, etc.
BackgroundContemporary StatusConnectionismcrystallizing experience: James’ Principles to Harvard to study under James then to Columbia to study under Cattell doctoral dissertation in 1898 (24): Animal Intelligence: An Experimental Study of the Associative Process in Animals appointment at Teachers College of Columbia University in 1899 (25) became leader in mental testing movement approximately 507 publications! Selected Writings from a Connectionist’s Psychology (1949/75) Basic View of PsychologySubstantive: the mind is a “connection system”Elementary Principles of ConnectionismMethodology
quantification
experimentation (“puzzle box”)the Law of Effect
the Law of Exercise
Back to top
Back to course page
Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927)
Life and CareerBack to topIdeas
- born in England to poor family; but academic brilliance won him a scholarship to attend college
- did extremely well, winning many awards and a scholarship to Oxford
- originally studied philosophy and classics, but later did research in physiology;
- preferred English Empiricists over Continental Rationalists who influenced Wundt
- yet decided to get degree under Wundt anyway
- before going to Leipzig translated the 3rd edition of Physiological Psychology into English
- arrived in Leipzig in 1890 (23)
- Wundt 35 years older, and saw little of him
- earned his PhD in 1892 (25) in only 2 years!
- taught a few months as extension lecturer in biology at Oxford
- had met an American (Frank Angell), who arranged for him to go to Cornell in 1892(25), where he became full professor at 28, and stayed 35 years until his death from a brain tumor
- somewhat isolated; elected by charter members to join APA, but never became president, and later resigned
- so in 1904 created his own society, “The Experimentalists,” later the Society of Experimental Psychologists
- in 1921 became editor of American Journal of Psychology, but best years already behind him
- died age 60
Principal WorksInfluenceGeneral View of Psychology as a ScienceOutline of Psychology (1896/29) Primer of Psychology (1898/31) article on “The Postulates of a Structural Psychology” (1898/31) Experimental Psychology (1901-05/34-38): Textbook of Psychology (1910/43) Systematic Psychology: Prolegomena (1929/posthumous; articles written 1912ff/45) Subject MatterThe Elements of Consciousness:Experience – as dependent on experiencing personMethod: systematic experimental introspection
Consciousness – sum total of experiences at a given point in time
Mind – cumulative sum of person’s experiencesGoals of Discipline
1. To reduce conscious processes to their simplest, most basic components: “mind is built up from its elements.”Note: Although divided psychology into human, animal, social, child, and abnormal psychology, most sympathetic toward first; strongly opposed to applied psychology.
2. To determine how these elements are combined and their laws of combination
3. To bring the elements into connection with their physiological conditions: psychological parallelismThree categories: sensations, images, and affectionsCore-Context Theory of Meaning: Elemental core plus meaning-providing context:For sensations alone: > 44,000 qualities
32,820 visualClassification according to
11,600 auditory
4 taste
3 alimentary tractqualitySensations have all four, but affections lack clearness
intensity
protensity (duration)
attensity (clearness)Rejected Wundt’s tridimensional theory of feeling:
only one dimension – pleasantness vs. unpleasantnessEven attention reduced to mere sensation:Short-term Influence216 articles & notes and several booksProblems with Structuralism:
(some translated into Russian, Italian, German, Spanish, & French)54 doctorates in 35 years, including:
Margaret Floy Washburn (1871-1939)
Walter Bowers Pillsbury (1872-1960)
Edwin G. Boring (1886-1968)
Joy P. Guilford (1897-1987)1. Narrow definition of psychologyLong-term Influence:
2. Artificiality and sterility of approach
3. Unreliability of introspection as a research tool1. Helped establish psychology as a science
2. Some research findings still valid
3. Target for criticism that helped establish new schools
Precursors
William James et al.Chicago FunctionalistsGranville Stanley Hall (1844-1924): "Darwin of the Mind"Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930): A Little Chronology with a Big History LessonHis “firsts”:Major Works:
- 1st American Ph.D. in psychology (under William James, 1878)
- 1st American student in the 1st year of the 1st lab in the world (Wundt’s)
- 1st psychology lab in US in 1883 at Johns Hopkins
- 1st psychology journal in US (American Journal of Psychology in 1887)
- 1st president of Clark University in 1888
- 1st President of the American Psychological Association in 1892 (which he organized)
Professional contributions:“The Contents of Children’s Minds Upon Entering School” (1883/39) Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion, and Education (1904/60) Jesus the Christ, in the Light of Psychology (1917/73) Senescence: The Last Half of Life (1922/78) 1891 founded Pedagogical Seminary (now Journal of Genetic Psychology)Students (81 PhD’s at Clark from 1888):
1904 founded the Journal of Religious Psychology (now defunct)
1909 organized Clark symposium inviting Freud, Jung, Ferenczi, James, Titchener, Cattell, and many others
1915 founded Journal of Applied PsychologyJ. M. Cattell
John Dewey
Joseph Jastrow
Arnold Gesell
Francis SumnerHugo Münsterberg (1863-1916)
1908 (45) On the Witness StandJames McKeen Cattell (1860-1944): Career Development
1909 (46) Psychotherapy
1910 (47) Psychology and the Teacher
1911 (48) Psychology and Industrial Efficiency
1914 (51) Psychology and Social Sanity
1916 (53) The Photoplay1886 (26) PhD under Wundt (then to Galton)
1888 (28) Professor of Psychology at University of Pennsylvania (1st anywhere in world)
1890 (30) paper coining term “mental tests”
1891 (31) moves to Columbia (until 1917): more doctorates there than anywhere else in next 26 years (including Thorndike and Woodworth)
1894 (34) started the Psychological Review (with Baldwin)
1895 (35) President of the American Psychological Association
1921 (61) began the Psychological Corporation
John Dewey (1859-1952)Mental Testing Movement:James Rowland Angell (1869-1949)
- wrote first American psychology textbook (1886/27)
- at Chicago 1894-1904
- article on “The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology” (Psychological Review, 1896/37)
- elected APA President (1899/40)
- APA address on “Psychology and Social Practice” (1900/41)
Harvey Carr (1873-1954)
- never earned PhD; at Chicago 1894-1921
- first published experiment in Psychological Review (1896/27)
- textbook Psychology: An Introductory Study of the Structure and Function of the Human Consciousness (1904/35)
- elected APA President (1906/37)
- address on “The Province of Functional Psychology”:
(a) mental operations, not mental elements
(b) fundamental utilities of consciousness
(c) psychophysical relations- awarded 23 honorary degrees
- became President of Yale 1921-37
- PhD under Angell at Chicago (1905/32)
- outstanding experimentalist and department chair
- wrote Psychology: A Study of Mental Activity (1925/52):
(a) mental activity is adaptive
(b) motivating stimulus provides direction
(c) sensory situation
(d) response- APA President in 1926 (53)
Alfred Binet (1857-1911): Binet and Simon test of 1905Evaluation
William Stern (1871-1938): IQ
Lewis M. Terman (1887-1956): Stanford-Binet test
Robert Yerkes (1876-1956): army Alpha test
David Wechsler (1896-1981): WAIS and WISC
Charles Spearman (1863-1945): general ability
Louis L. Thurstone (1887-1955): specific abilities
CriticismsBack to topVagueContributions
AppliedExpanded range of field
Established discipline in US
Set stage for Behaviorism and Gestalt psychologies
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
LifeJohn Broadus Watson (1878-1958)Ideas
- first born of 11 children
- son of village priest; mother daughter of priest; originally intended to become a priest
- studied animal physiology at St. Petersberg; degree in 1875 (26); MD in 1883 (34)
- 2 years in Germany under Ludwig at Leipzig
- Professor of Pharmacology at St. Petersburg Military Academy 1890 (41)
- Professor of Physiology 1895 (46)
- won Nobel Prize for work on digestion 1904 (55)
- opposition to Soviet regime until 1933
- on February 21, 1936, fell ill following full day at work, and died
- methodology: chronic instead of acute preparations; inspired by William Beaumont (1785-1853) gastric fistula study
- accidental discovery (serendipity) of “psychic secretions”; conditioned reflexes
- used classical conditioning paradigm to study: generalization and differentiation, experimental neurosis, extinction, etc.
- theory of brain; Darwinian framework; materialistic atomistic reductionism
- attitude toward psychology: not a science
LifeBack to topCareer
- 4th born of 6 children
- born in family where mother was a highly religious fundamentalist
- mediocre student in one-room schoolhouse
- described by teachers as troublesome and argumentative
- admitted that he was lazy and rebellious
- entered Furman University to become a minister, yet
- went to graduate school at the University of Chicago, originally to study philosophy
- but worked in psychology under Angell; with minors in neurology and philosophy (Jacques Loeb)
- problems with introspection, so switched to rats
- although had nervous breakdown, finished degree in record time
- got married and finished dissertation in 1903 (25): Animal Education: The Psychical Development of the White Rat.
Chief Works
- at Chicago 1903-1908; research in Dry Tortugas
- competition between Chicago and Johns Hopkins (invited to latter by James Baldwin, the chair):
- full professor at Johns Hopkins at age 30 (1908-1920)
- becomes chair when Baldwin resigned; became editor of Psychological Review
- extremely popular teacher
- begins to develop behaviorism in talks at Columbia (invited by Cattell)
- elected APA President at age 37 (1915)
- wartime service; realized the importance of sex (read Freud since 1910)
- returns to conduct research on infant behavior with Rosalie Rayner
- then supposed research on human sexual behavior (a little history of putative historical "facts")
- forced out of job at age 42; married Rosalie; joined advertising agency (recommendation of Titchener)
- debates with Köhler and McDougall
- APA Gold medal in 1957 (79)
1913 (35) “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” in Psychological ReviewIdeas
1914 (36) Behavior: An Introduction to Comparative Psychology
1915 (37) APA Presidential Address; Pavlov to replace introspection
1919 (41) Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist
1920 (42) “Conditional Emotional Reactions” (with Rosalie)
1925 (47) Behaviorism
1928 (50) Psychological Care of the Infant Child (with Rosalie)Subject matter: BehaviorAftermathTwo conceptions of consciousness
in 1913: methodological behaviorismAtomistic, mechanistic, and materialistic: stimulus-response reflexes
in 1929: metaphysical behaviorismHence arises Watson’s
1) Peripheral Theory of Thinking
2) Conditioned emotional responses: Little Albert
3) Habits: extreme nurture position
Edward Chance Tolman (1886-1959)
Life and CareerClark Leonard Hull (1884-1952)Chief Ideas
- second-born in well-to-do family
- brother a renowned theoretical chemist and physicist
- BS in electrochemistry 1911 (25)
- crystallizing experience: William James
- Harvard University, first summer school and then psychology: Yerkes, Holt, and Münsterberg
- to Germany; with Kurt Koffka
- back to Harvard
- exposure to Watsonian behaviorism “tremendous stimulus and relief”
- PhD 1915 (29)
- at Northwestern until 1918, when dismissed for pacifism and poor teaching
- then to UC Berkeley (except 1950-53, when at Harvard and Chicago)
- APA President in 1937 (51)
- Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award 1957 (71)
- Regents of University of California award him an “honorary doctorate” in 1959 (later Tolman Hall)
Book Purposive Behavior in Animals and Man (1932/46):Influencemolar rather than molecular level;Intervening variables: B = f (S, P, H, T,A)
goal-directed behavior (“reeks of purpose”)B = behaviorLearning theory
S = environmental stimuli
P = physiological drive
H = heredity
T = previous training
A = agesensory S-S rather than S-R learning
cognitive theory of “sign Gestalts” (cognitive expectations)
learning versus performance
cognitive maps
debates with Hull in 30s and 40sPro1. Introduced important cognitive ideasCon
2. Many outstanding students: Campbell, Gleitman, Hochberg, Krech, etc.1. No Tolmanians
2. Numerous neologisms: discriminanda, manipulanda, sign-Gestalt-readiness
3. Failed to develop fully integrated theoretical system
LifeB[urrhus] F[rederic] Skinner (1904-1990)Career
- born in log cabin in very poor, uneducated family; family moved often
- only spotty education; virtually self educated
- sickly (typhoid fever and polio)
- discovered talent for mathematics and philosophy in preparatory school; also mechanical gifts
- planned to become a minister, but
- crystallizing experience: William James
- BA U Michigan 1913 (30)
- PhD U Wisconsin 1918 (34)
- read Newton’s Principia
Influence
- at Wisconsin next 10 years
- built correlation machine
- published Aptitude Testing (1928/44)
- then 32 papers on hypnosis and suggestion; wrote Hypnosis and Suggestibility (1933/49)
- converted to behaviorism:
1. invited Kurt Koffka to Wisconsin 1926-27
2. read Pavlov in 1927
3. invited to Yale in 1929 (45)
- at Yale between 1929-1950: 21 theoretical articles in Psychological Review
- APA President in 1936 (52)
- Mathematico-Deductive Theory of Rote Learning: A Study in Scientific Method (with 5 others; 1940/56)
- Principles of Behavior (1943/59)
- massive coronary heart attack (1948/64)
- Essentials of Behaviorism (1951/67)
- A Behavior System published posthumously
1. mathematico-deductive system: 18 postulates & 12 corollaries
2. drives and incentives
3. learning: Thorndike’s law of effect with Pavlovian conditioning (law of reinforcement);
4. habit strength and reaction potential (= habit strength X drive)Pro1. Highly cited in the psychological literatureCon
2. Numerous disciples and followers, including future APA presidents and DSC Award recipients1. Never fully developed system
2. What he did develop was extremely sterile as a precise mathematical framework
Chief Works
Main Ideas
Positivistic, “empty-organism” approach; atheoreticalInfluenceNonstatistical analyses of single cases under extremely controlled conditions: Skinner box and cumulative record
Concepts:
1. operant rather than respondant behavior
2. positive versus negative reinforcement;
3. punishment;
4. secondary reinforcement;
5. reinforcement schedules;
6. discriminative stimulus;
7. shaping; etc.
- many followers and admirers; outstanding students
- founded Journal for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior in 1958 (56)
- won DSC Award in 1958 (56)
- listed in The 100 Most Important People in the World Today in 1970 (68)
- identified as the best-known US scientist in 1975 (73) survey
- major practical contributions: programmed instruction; behavior modification
- and yet …
Antecedents
Nativism rather than EmpiricismThe Founding in 1910:Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)Phenomenology rather than trained Introspection“unbiased scrutiny of experience” or “disciplined naiveté”Holism rather than Atomism (or Elementarism)
Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832): Theory of Colors (1810/61)Christian von Ehrenfels (1859-1932): Gestaltqualität: e.g., the same melody in different keys
Max Wertheimer (1880-1943)Wertheimertrain-ride insightThe triumvirate
bought toy stroboscope to study phi phenomenon
to Frankfurt Psychological Institute;
two postdocs volunteered:Kurt Koffka (1886-1941)
Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967)Wertheimer –difficulty getting ideas down on paper; but a prophet and catalyst, generating ideas for others to follow upKoffka –a leading organizer and promoter who brought movement to the US in 1927Köhler –most productive researcher and systematic theorist
BeforeKoffkaAfter
- born in intellectual and artistic household in Prague
- father innovative educator
- talent in mathematics, philosophy, literature, and music (violin, piano, composition)
- poet in adolescence; friendships in literary circles
- fascination with Spinoza (holism and optimism)
- started law school, then to philosophy of law, then legal testimony, and hence psychology
- PhD with highest honors from Würzburg in 1904 (24)
- published article on “Experimental Studies of the Perception of Movement” 1912 (32)
- position at University of Berlin (friends with Einstein)
- founded the Psychologische Forschung in 1921 (41) (22 vols until 1938, when shut down by Nazis)
- offered professorship at University of Frankfurt 1929 (49)
- forced to emigrate to the US 1933 (53); New School for Social Research 1934 (54)
- dies suddenly of coronary embolism 1943 (63)
- Productive Thinking published posthumously (1945)
BeforeKöhlerAfter
- born in Berlin to distinguished family of lawyers
- educated at Berlin, but perfected English one year at Edinburg
- PhD on “Experimental Investigation of Rhythm” (1908/22)
- taught University of Giessen 1911-24; Visiting professor at Cornell 1924-25; visited U. Wisconsin 1927; took position at Smith College in 1927 (until death in 1941)
- published first Gestalt article in English in Psychological Bulletin: “Perception: An Introduction to Gestalt Theory” 1922 (36)
- The Growth of the Mind (1924/28)
- Principles of Gestalt Psychology (1935/49): covered perception, memory, learning, personality, and social psychology
BeforePrinciples of Gestalt PsychologyAfter
- born in Estonia, but raised in northern Germany; trained with Max Planck
- doctorate at University of Berlin in 1909 (22)
- Director of Anthropoid Station of the Prussian Academy of Science in Tenerife Island (then WW I)
- Intelligenzprüfung an Menschenaffen (“Mentality of Apes”) 1917 (30)
- returns to Germany: publishes Static and Stationary Physical Gestalts in 1920 (33)
- Director of psychology laboratory at University of Berlin
- succeeded Stumpf in most prestigious professorship in Germany 1922 (35)
- first book in English: Gestalt Psychology 1929 (42)
- William James Lecturer at Harvard 1934-35; published as The Place of Value in a World of Facts 1938 (51)
- conflict with Nazi regime 1935 (48)
- Professor of Psychology at Swarthmore 1935-1955
- Dynamics in Psychology 1940 (53)
- Figural After-Effects 1944 (57)
- Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award 1956 (69)
- APA President 1959 (72)
General Methodological StrategyConsequents1. Naïve phenomenology rather than trained introspectionGestalt Theory
2. Holistic rather than atomistic analysis
3. Perception as foundation for basic psychological principles
4. Extend holistic principles to all fields of psychology
5. Avoid premature quantificationPhi phenomenon
Perceptual organization
Learning (relations)
Thinking (insight)
Isomorphism
Cognitive psychologyBack to top
Personality and social psychology
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Back to top1873 (17) medical studies at the University of Vienna; took courses from Franz Brentano (1838-1892)born to Jewish parents in Moravia: father a part time rabbi (as was his grandfather) but earned living as relatively poor wool merchant, with economic ups and downs frequent threats of mob violence led to many changes of residence (moved to Vienna when Freud was 4) mother age 19, very attractive; born 8 months after his parents' marriage her 1st child (7 more to be born), but father’s 3rd, his older brothers as old as his mother four childhood events that stood out in Freud’s memory extremely precocious; encouraged by his parents entered the gymnasium a year early a brilliant student; head of class, and graduated summa cum laude at age 17 but difficult career choice: business, law, or medicine
1876 (20) began scientific researchfirst scientific publications appeared1879 (23) military service; translated J. S. Mill
worked for 6 years at the physiological institute of Ernst Brücke (1819-1892)
1880 (24) returns to lab, but advised about career prospects
1881 (25) earns MD as Nervenartzt, or clinical neurologist1882 (26) a “big year” for Freud: five events –
1. studied under Theodor Meynert (1833-1893)1884 (28) first chance to become famous:
2. began his private practice
3. fell in love with Martha Berneys; 4 year engagement
4. began friendship with Josef Breuer (1842-1925), who was dealing with case of Anna O.; “talking cure,” cathartic method, and positive transference
5. on November 18 Freud notes that he first becomes aware of the power of the unconscious in the genesis of psychopathologydiscovers the analgesic properties of cocaine;1885 (29) studied a few months with Charcot in Paris, then with Hippolyte Bernheim at Nancy
resulting addiction and death of friend;
missed out on credit for discovery while in France
1886 (30) marries Martha: 6 children, including daughter Anna Freud, and sons Jean Martin, Ernst, and OliverSame year adopted various therapeutic techniques, such as hypnosis, but eventually develops method of free-association1895 (39)1896 (40) Two critical events:
- Breuer and Freud publish Studies in Hysteria; highly critical reaction; sold poorly; breaks up relationship
- works on his “Project for a Scientific Psychology”
- discovers the role of wish-fulfillment in dreams
- develops a friendship with Wilhelm Fliess (1858-1929); neurotic episode
1897 (41): began using dream analysis; sudden revelation about the “great secret”
- presented paper before Society of Psychiatry and Neurology in Vienna on his “seduction theory”; negative reception from Richard Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902) and others
- father died: entered 2-year long self-analysis
1900 (44): publishes The Interpretation of Dreams; ends relationship with Fliess
1902 (46) “Psychological Wednesday Circle”
1904 (48) The Psychopathology of Everyday Life
1905 (49) Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality
1908 (52) First International Congress of Psychoanalysis; journal appears next year
1909 (53) Hall’s invitation to Clark conference
1910 (54) Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of his Childhood1911 (55) Break with Adler
1914 (58) Break with Jung and WW I breaks out
1917 (61) Painful swelling in mouth discovered (smoked 20 cigars per day)
1920 (64) Beyond the Pleasure Principle
1923 (67) Diagnosed with mouth cancer; 33 operations, almost continuous pain
1927 (71) The Future of an Illusion
1930 (74) Civilization and Its Discontents: Thanatos as rival to Eros
1933 (77) Freud’s books burned by the Nazis; by the end of 1934, most psychoanalysts had left Germany
1938 (82) The Nazis invaded Austria; Freud’s home taken over; daughter arrested; goes to England
1939 (83) Health fails rapidly, pain ever more severe, while the Nazi armies menace EuropeSeptember 1, Nazi Germany invades Poland; France and England declare war two days later
September 23, dies
The Apostates
Alfred Adler (1870-1937)The Neo-FreudiansLifeSandor Ferenczi (1873-1933)Ideas
- born in Vienna to wealthy parents, but unhappy childhood; sickly; rivalry with older brother
- at 5, recovery from serious illness inspired him to become a physician
- MD from U. Vienna in 1895 (25), specializing in ophthalmology, and then psychiatry
- member of Marxist-oriented Social Democrat Party
- met Freud after defended latter’s The Interpretation of Dreams
- attends the weekly discussion groups 1902 (32)
- begins arguing that aggression > sex as drive
- but still named President of Viennese Analytic Society in 1910 (40);
- becomes openly critical; resigns 1911 (41)
- publishes Über den nervösen Charakter, on individual psychology
- founds first Child Guidance Clinic in Vienna 1921 (51)
- espouses feminism 1922 (52)
- settled permanently in US 1936 (66), dying a year later
Influenceinferiority feelings, especially organ inferiority, produce compensation striving for superiority; “will to power” sex act as male domination; penis envy as symbolic resentment over male social dominance style of life, “life plan,” or “superordinate guiding idea”; each the “artist of his own personality” but may fail, creating a neurosis order of birth:
oldest – insecure and hostile;
youngest – spoiled, behavior problems as adult;
middle – ambitious, rebellious, and jealous, but better adjusted than the others!American Journal of Individual Psychology
Many Neo-Freudians actually Neo-AdleriansLifeCarl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)Ideas
- MD University of Vienna 1894 (21)
- met Freud 1908 (35)
- travels to Clark with Freud 1909 (36)
- collaborates with Otto Rank on The Development of Psychoanalysis 1924 (51)
- wrote Thalassa: A Theory of Genitality 1924 (51)
- advocated shorter therapy; introduced questionable practices
- Freud thought he would discredit psychoanalysis
LifeOtto Rank (1884-1939)Ideas
- born in Swiss village; son of pastor (clergy on both sides of family)
- but both parents remote
- MD from University of Basel 1900 (25)
- dissertation On the Psychology and Pathology of So-Called Occult Phenomena
- specialized in psychiatry
- appointment at Berghölzli Asylum at University of Zurich, directed by Eugen Bleuler
- attended lectures of Pierre Janet
- developed “word association” test, including a psychogalvanometer
- read Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams; established a correspondence in 1906 (31)
- to Vienna in 1907 (32); to Clark with Freud in 1909 (34)
- named first President of the International Psychoanalytic Association 1911 (36), despite strong opposition
- began to de-emphasize sex; libido concept changed
- resigned from presidency 1912 (37)
Libido just generalized life energyDevelopment stages different
Infancy – nourishmentRejected Oedipal complex; child’s attachment to mother based on her food-providing function
Childhood – play
Puberty – heterosexual
Old age – spiritualPsychologische Typen 1921 (46): direction of libidinal energy either
introversion or
extraversion
Structure of personality; psyche has three levels:conscious (ego),
personal unconscious,
collective unconscious (archetypes)LifeIdeas
- poor Jewish family; father alcoholic
- left school, but voracious reader (including Freud)
- family physician was Adler, who introduced them
- presented Freud with essay “The Artist” 1906 (22); published next year; encouraged to continue education
- PhD 1912 (28) University of Vienna
- edited first European journals of psychoanalysis, such as the Internationale Zeitschrift für Psychoanalyse, 1912-24 (28-40)
- begins to practice psychotherapy 1920 (36)
Oedipal complex supplies themes for poetry and myth (1909-14/25-30)
Presents first ideas on the birth trauma 1922 (38)
Publishes The Trauma of Birth 1929 (45): “separation anxiety”
Resigned from Vienna Psychoanalytic Society same year
Karen Horney (1885-1952)Back to topLifeErich Fromm (1900-1980)Ideas
- born in Hamburg; MD from University of Berlin 1913 (28)
- trained at Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute 1914-18 (29-33)
- to US 1932 (47); associate director of Chicago Institute of Psychoanalysis
- teaches at New York Psychoanalytic Institute 1934 (49)
- expelled from New York Psychoanalytic Institute 1941 (56)
The Neurotic Personality of Our Time 1937 (52): “basic anxiety”No universal Oedipal complexPossibility of self-help: Self-Analysis 1942 (57)
Three kinds of neurotic response:Movement towards people
Movement away from people
Movement against peopleLifeIdeas
- born in Frankfurt; studied psychology and sociology at Heidelberg, Frankfurth, and Munich
- PhD 1922 (22) from Heidelberg in sociology
- psychoanalytic training in Munich and Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute
- to US in 1933 (33)
Escape from Freedom 1941 (41): authoritarianism to fulfill a neurotic need
Man for Himself 1947 (47): personal accountability
The Sane Society 1955 (55): consensus-oriented, industrial man at mercy of material creations
Greatness and Limitations of Freud’s Thoughts 1980 (80): Marx the better psychologist!
The Metasciences
Humanistic Studies of ScienceBack to topHistory of ScienceScientific Studies of ScienceDescriptivePhilosophy of ScienceGeorge Sarton (1884-1956)Speculative
E. G. Boring (1886-1968)Externalist (e.g., J. D. Bernal)
Internalist (e.g., Thomas Kuhn)Ontological versus EpistemologicalOntological (e.g., atoms, mind)Prescriptive versus Descriptive
Epistemological (e.g., rationalism, empiricism, skepticism, Kantianism, logical empiricism)Prescriptive (e.g., Bacon, Descartes, Newton, Popper)
Descriptive (e.g., Piaget, D. T. Campbell)Sociology of ScienceThe Sociology of KnowledgePsychology of Science
The Mertonian School: Robert K. Merton (1910-2003)
Norms in science1. UniversalismCritical research sites
2. Originality
3. Community
4. Disinterestedness
5. Humility
6. Emotional neutrality
7. Individual independence1. Inequality and elitism: e.g., Ortega hypothesis
2. Age structure: e.g. Planck’s principle
3. Multiples and priority disputesGeneral approachesCognitive psychologySpecific applications
Differential psychology
Developmental psychology
Social psychologyPsychology of psychologists
Psychology of scientific genius
Below is a complete outline of all chapters and sections in Creativity in Science: Chance, Logic, Genius, and Zeitgeist.
Next to each section I have placed asterisks indicating the importance of that material to your paper. The greater the number of asterisks, the greater the significance of that material. In particular,
Extremely important; should be included or at least mentioned in any
term paper = ***
Moderately important; may or may not prove useful depending on your
subject = **
Least important; optional material; mostly useful if missing information
relevant to above = *
Naturally, any section or chapter that has no asterisk at all can be completely ignored for the purposes of your paper. Save those pages for recreational reading in an airport terminal or sandy beach.
Needless to say, this information will provide the basis for the lecture.
I. Introduction: Scientific Creativity***
A. Four Possible Perspectives**1. Logic*B. Their Potential Integration*
2. Genius***
3. Chance*
4. Zeitgeist**
II. Creative Products***
A. Scientific Careers: Publications***1. Individual Variation***B. Scientific Communities: Multiples*a. Elitist Distribution***2. Longitudinal Change***
b. Equal-Odds Rule**1. Distribution of Multiple Grades*C. Conclusion: Statement of the Problem
2. Temporal Separation of Multiple Discoveries*
3. Individual Variation in Multiple Participation**
4. Degree of Multiple Identity*
III. Combinatorial Processes**
A. Assumptions
B. Implications1. Research Publications*C. Extension
2. Multiple Discoveries*1. Career Trajectories*D. Objections
2. Individual Differences***
3. Interdisciplinary Contrasts**1. Alternative Explanations
2. Explanatory Limitations
IV. Scientific Activity**
A. Individuals: Research Programs***
B. Fields: Peer Review**
C. Domains: Disciplinary Zeitgeist*
D. Two Implications*
V. Creative Scientists***
A. Disposition***VI. Scientific Discovery**1. Intelligence***B. Development***
2. Associative Richness*a. Hierarchies*3. Openness to Experience***
b. Constraints**
4. Psychopathology***
5. Janusian Thinking**1. Family Experiences***a. Shared Environment***2. Education and Training***
b. Nonshared Environment***a. Creative Scientists versus Creative Artists***3. Sociocultural Context***
b. Creative Scientists versus Noncreative Scientists***a. Creative Epochs***4. Conclusion*
b. Scientific Epochs***
A. Logical Processes*
B. Chance Processes*1. Insight Problems*C. Conclusion
2. Creative Production*
3. Computer Problem Solving
4. Group Creativity**
VII. Consolidation: Creativity in Science**
A. Integration1. Chance*B. Implications*
2. Logic*a. The Role of Logic3. Zeitgeist*
b. The Limits on Logic*a. Disciplinary Zeitgeist*4. Genius***
b. Sociocultural Zeitgeist*a. High versus Low Creativity***
b. Chance and Creativity***1. Research Framework***
2. Potential Applications*
Also, don't forget to check out the grading criteria here
and the term paper guidelines here.
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Antecedents
HumanismNew England TranscendentalistsHuman SciencesRalph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)Existentialism
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)Sören Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)Giambattista Vico (1668-1774)
Edmund Husserl (1859-1938)
Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911)
The Founders
Background history1961 Journal of Humanistic Psychology
1962 American Association for Humanistic Psychology
1964 Meeting at Old Saybrook, CT: The Third Force – Allport, Rogers, Maslow, May, and others
1972 Division of Humanistic Psychology: 788 members by 1985
Gordon Allport (1897-1967)LifeIdeas
- son of physician;
- older brother Floyd (b. 1890); Harvard BA 1919 (Floyd PhD same year)
- Harvard PhD 1922 (25, Floyd was 29)
- Floyd behavioristic social psychologist; Gordon a humanistic personality psychologist
- instrumental in 1934 Harvard split into Department of Psychology and Department of Social Relations
distinction between normal and neurotic personalities (unconscious, infantile past, etc.) motivation: functional autonomy role of self (propium): becoming nomothetic vs. idiographic research methods students: Jerome Bruner, Roger Brown, Gardner Lindzey, Herbert Kelman, Stanley Milgram, & Kenneth Gergen
Carl Rogers (1902-1987)Life
- strict mid-West, hardworking, upper-middle-class, Christian household;
- father engineering degree; mother attended college
- but not intellectual: forbid dancing, playing cards, attending movies, smoking
- sibling rivalry: older son the favorite; but had good relations with younger brother
- chronic daydreamer and social isolate
- BA in history from Wisconsin 1924 (22)
- enrolled in Union Theological Seminary, but in second year courses at Columbia Teachers College
- contact with Thorndike, Adler, Leta Hollingworth
- PhD in psychology in 1931 (29)
- The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child 1939 (37)
- APA President 1946-47 (44-45)
- Client-Centered Therapy 1951 (49)
- Center of Studies of the Person, La Jolla 1968 (66)
Ideas
- self theory: “principle of self-enhancement”; tension between self and ideal; unsymbolized self
- client-centered therapy: “unconditional positive regard”; non-directive
- experiential groups; “facilitator”
- attitude toward scientific psychology
- debate with B. F. Skinner
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)Life
- PhD under Harry Harlow 1934 (26) at University of Wisconsin
- unemployed; research assistant to Thorndike
- contacts with refugees at New School: Wertheimer, Horney, etc.
- APA President in 1968 (60)
IdeasHierarchy of Motives1. Physiological needsSelf-Actualizers
2. “Safety” needs
3. Belongingness and love
4. Esteem and respect
5. Self actualization
6. Knowledge
7. Esthetics and beauty1. Efficient perception of reality
2. Acceptance of self, others, and of nature
3. Spontaneity
4. Centered on social and universal problems rather than the personal
5. Detachment, need for privacy
6. Autonomy, independence
7. Mystic experiences and oceanic feelings
8. Identification and sympathy with humanity
9. Few deep friendships rather than wide superficial relations
10. Democratic character structure, freedom from prejudice
11. Creativity
12. Resistance to enculturation
Rollo May (1909-1994)
- originally studied to become a minister; remained a practicing Christian
- rebelled against orthodox psychoanalysis
- introduced existentialism into American psychology
- the “human dilemma” – “man’s capacity to experience himself as both subject and object at the same time”
Contributions
1. Experiential psychologyBut challenge: Positive Psychology?
2. Positive image of humans
3. Role of self, of self-actualization and uniqueness
4. Importance of values
5. Psychotherapeutic innovations
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Context
Influences from outside the disciplineCharacteristicsNoam Chomsky (1928- ): nativism; attack on B. F. SkinnerInfluences from within the discipline
Communications engineering: Information theory (1948)
Cybernetics: Norbert Wiener’s self-governing systems (1948)
Computer science:A. R. Turing’s test (1950)Brain science: neurosciences:
Von Neumann’s The Computer and the Brain (1958)1948 Hixon Symposium on “Cerebral Mechanisms in Behavior”
Karl Lashley “The Problem of Serial Order in Behavior.”Early anticipationsWundt: mental chronometryThe gradual emergence
Donders: reaction times
Ebbinghaus: verbal memory
Functionalists: operations of mind
Gestalt psychologists
Tolman’s cognitive behaviorismSir Frederic Bartlett (1886-1969): Remembering (1932/46)
Jean Piaget (1896-1980): cognitive development
Jerome Bruner (1915- ): A Study of Thinking (1956/42)
George Miller (1920- ): Plans and the Structure of Behavior (1960)
Harvard’s Center for Cognitive Studies in 1962
Ulrich Neisser’s Cognitive Psychology in 1966
Journal Cognitive Psychology in 1969
Cognition in 1972
Representations – symbols, images, ideas, rules, etc.Topics
Computer as model or metaphor – input, output, storage, programs, algorithms, heuristics, memory, etc.
Generic thinker – ignore affect, context, culture, history
Interdisciplinary nature – psychology, neurosciences, AI, philosophy, linguistics, anthropology
Roots in classical philosophical problems – epistemology, mind-body, nativism
Verbal learning and memory – semantic clusteringCritiqueMemory storage systems –
Sensory, STM, LTMMental images – Mental rotation
Procedural, semantic, episodicComputer simulation (AI) –
General Problem SolverConnectionist Models
Expert Systems
Discovery ProgramsMental chronometry and response times – mathematical models
Psycholinguistics – bottom-up vs. top-down
Lack of unified theory or paradigmBack to top
Reliance on laboratory experiments with college students isolated from context
Reintroduction of soft data
Infatuation with computer metaphor
Current Developments
The death of schools and systemsFuture course: Will psychology continue?in scientific psychologySubstantive pluralism: hencebehaviorism?in clinical practice
Gestalt?
psychoanalysis?
humanistic psych?
cognitive psych?eclectic approaches replacingorthodox psychoanalysis“managed care” of HMOs
client-centered
behavior modificationthe proliferation of journals: e.g., APAFragmentation and disintegrationnone in 1892the proliferation of APA divisions
6 in 1942
> 20 by mid-1980s
and now? (plus division journals)AcademicExperimental vs. correlationalProfessionale.g., Wundt vs. GaltonNatural vs. human sciences
Cognitive vs. personality/social/etc.
James tough/tender minded
Sciences vs. humanities1892 APA founded by academicsHence, tripart division?
1936 AAAP
1936 SPSSI
1946 APA adopts division structure; practitioners become majority
1988 attempted reorganization failed
1989 APS formed
Emergence of professional schools
The criteria of science: explanation, prediction, and controlBack to top
The problems of human subjectivitySubjectivity of subject matterBut ... what other discipline?
Subjectivity of choice of topic
The Lectures
The AncientsThe Themes
Medieval & Renaissance
Descartes
British Empiricists
Continental Rationalists
Pseudo-Sciences
French Clinicians
British Evolutionists
Galton
German Physiologists
Wundt
James
Associationism
Structuralism
Functionalism
Behaviorism I
Behaviorism II
Gestalt Psychology
Psychoanalysis I
Psychoanalysis II
Humanistic Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
What is human nature?Back to top
How are humans related to nonhuman animals?
How are the mind and the body related?
Where does human knowledge come from?
Rationalism versus Irrationalism
Consciousness versus Unconsciousness
Reductionism versus Nonreductionism
Atomism versus Holism
Objective versus subjective reality
Mechanism versus vitalism
Determinism versus Freedom
What is the basis for human happiness?
Last Revised: April 17, 2009